Her King and His Knight
by Higuchimon
Summary: She searches for her king and his knight. She wants to think she will know them when she sees them. But wanting isn't having.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
 **Fandom:** Yu-Gi-Oh Zexal  
 **Title:** Her King and His Knight  
 **Characters:** Iris  
 **Word Count:** 999|| **Status:** One-shot  
 **Genre:** Angst|| **Rated:** PG  
 **Challenge:** Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, B12, write a fic between 950-999 words; Written for the Zexal Non-Flash Bingo, 107, Barian World; Written for the Word Count Set Boot Camp, #13, 999 words: Written for the Character Diversity Boot Camp, #46, absent  
 **Summary:** She searches for her king and his knight. She wants to think she will know them when she sees them. But wanting isn't having.

* * *

Iris lived in Barian World. She couldn't remember anyone having told her that was the name of where she lived, but she still knew it. Just like she knew her name was Iris and she was looking for her king and his night. She didn't know who they were, but she thought that she would know them when she saw them. She hoped so, anyway.

Iris didn't remember living anywhere other than Barian World. She wasn't alone here, but no one seemed to have the time to talk to her. That was all right with her. She only really wanted to find her king and his knight anyway. They meant everything to her. Even when she couldn't remember their names or faces.

She remembered their smiles, though, and the way that they would laugh. She felt certain the laughs hadn't been often. Something bad had been going on, something that no one would want to laugh about. She wasn't any more certain of what it had been than she was of what her king and his knight looked like, but it made those rare smiles and laughs all the more wonderful when they came.

Sometimes she would spend long hours watching the scarlet skies of Barian World, hoping to see a pair of figures she would instantly recognize. They could come from the sky, she thought. Another thing she knew and did not know how she knew. But they never came.

There were others who did come. They weren't like the other inhabitants of the world that she saw regularly. Those looked like she did, only taller and stronger and wearing armor. She was the only one of them who was so small and wasn't able to defend herself. And no matter how much time passed, she didn't change at all. None of them did.

But these new ones, these who weren't like the ones she knew: they took her breath away in a different fashion. They were powerful beyond words. One look at them told her that. They were beautiful in a way that no one she'd ever seen had been beautiful. They were dangerous, in a way that made their beauty all the greater.

They were stone. They moved freely, but they were of rock and stone and gems that glowed in the ever-present light of the world.

They had names. She heard the names tossed about among them, though none of the ones that she knew dared to address them. She heard Alit. She heard Gilag. She heard Mizael.

She heard Merag, and it made her heart weep, though she didn't know why.

She heard Vector, and she wanted to run and hide in fear.

She heard Durbe, and her heart skipped a beat, as if she'd met someone she'd searched for.

She heard Nasch, and she wanted to call him her king, but her king hadn't been made of stone.

Iris stared at them all from the cover of a rock as they spoke with some of the others who lived in this world. She didn't dare move so they would see her. The others were warriors. They could do things that she couldn't, that she'd never be able to do. They were necessary and useful for these great ones: the Seven Barian Emperors, she heard them called.

Not like her. Not like little Iris, who never changed and never could do anything, who could only hide from anyone who might hurt her. Most of those who lived here paid her no attention at all. She liked it that way. Without her king and his knight… she didn't feel safe.

But when she laid eyes on Nasch and Durbe, she thought she remembered what it was like to feel safe, and she wanted it to continue.

 _Stay away from them,_ she told herself. _You can't be safe if you're with them. They're dangerous._

There was no arguing that they were. But she wanted to think they were like her king and his knight: the kind of dangerous that would mean those whom they chose to take care of would be safe from those who wished to harm them.

She hesitated. She wanted to talk to them so much. Perhaps they could tell her things that she didn't know. Such as how she knew her own name and how she came to be in this world with no one else to take care of her.

"I think we've done all that we can here," the one in charge, the one named Nasch, who looked so much like a king that she wanted him to be hers even if he wasn't, said. It only took a handful of breaths for them all to vanish. Perhaps not even a handful. But a swirl of starlight and they were gone.

Iris stared at where they had been, trembling. She reached out one hand, then pulled it back to herself. She had no idea of where they'd gone or if she'd ever see them again. It hurt almost as much as being aware that her king and his knight weren't around to watch over her anymore.

 _I'll find you,_ she promised, and she didn't know if she meant it for the Seven Emperors or for her king and his knight. She wasn't sure anymore if it mattered. If this Nasch was somehow her king, then… then she didn't know what, but she would do her level best to find him, regardless.

She wasn't made of stone. But she had a Barian's heart, because why else would she be in this world if she wasn't one of them?

She would not stop searching for her king and his knight. She would be loyal to them forever.

After all, she lived in Barian World. It was a place for the strong. She didn't age here and she wouldn't die. She had forever to look for them. Even if she didn't know how long forever was. But it would be long enough.

 **The End**

 **Note:** Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.


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